The Utimate Chauffeur Showdown: Who is the Best?

That photo looks like the interior of a Hummer limo.

GO mercedes..
Lexus in fifth place.. uhoh.
id rather it have done better just so i dont have to hear all the bitching that will follow.

This comparison must be for American chauffeur driven cars. The A8L is a limo in Europe, while the MB S-Class is rarely seen. Lots of E-Class taxi's. Anyway, I can understand how this could be a super close match between the S-Class and A8L. However, so much more car in the A8L. Aluminium body, Quattro, Intuitiveness.

Mr Uber Audi,

You're full of bias and crazy comments. 4 months ago, I was in Europe on a sightseeing tour and got a ride in a German taxi on one of those occassions: an Audi A6 diesel.

nearly all parisien taxis are e classes

Wow the Oldest car in the class the A8 looses by one point to the S Class and they used the 2006 car with the smaller engine

Poor Lexus and their new car. Oh how the mighty have fallen

1uberaudi..."the S-Class is rarely seen".....you must be smoking crack....but then again, you being biased towards Audi, it's no wonder that you don't see any other car. BTW, the S continues to be the number one selling car in it's class worldwide.

The S Class is not the best selling car in its class worldwide, only in the US. The A8/A8L has been the best selling car in its class worldwide for the last six years. Go do some research. The S-Class is not best car to be chauffered around in due to it unrefinement. Read any German/European car magazines and they will tell you this.

Why did CNET rate the LS460L a perfect "10" and here it is in last place?

CNET ranked the big Lexus a 10 based on the amount of gadgets and whatnots.

CNET, give us a break. Go back to reviewing computers and TV's.

great computer nerds love the Lexus

I tied a Mac to my front bumper, how do you like me now ?

I think the LS460L was ranked last because it was all flash and no dash. Certainly luxurious & well-executed but 'Buick-like' in its dynamic responses.

Look especially at the long, long braking distances. Lexus has engineered a powerful car that is very sub-par in braking capabilities. The trunk is tiny too.

How come you Lexus guys say that about every test a Lexus is placed last in?

"Oh, the GS they tested was a pre-production..."

"Oh, the IS they tested was a pre-production..."

Stop the excuses. The LS460 tested by C&D was a standard mass-produced LS460. And it was ranked last. Live with it.

always crying foul...

What exactly is pre-production? You are either produced or not produced. Is this the same as pre-boarding a plane?

pre-production car is a test vehicle used for the purpose of testing production assembly line. There may be many cases where they will remove and attach many components over and over again to run through the same assembly procedures to study the efficiency of the production.

the interesting thing is that in the Vehicle category the Lexus came out among the best but in got trashed on every subjective category. To me that seems biased. I'll never renew my subscription to C&D.

And the Audi was the oldest car with the slower 2006 engine not the 2007. I think if they would have tested the 2007 they would have won

I think that C&D ranks these cars reasonably well based on their objective to find out which car has the sportiest driving characteristics. This is sort of “out of scope” comparison objective, if you ask me. I would be more interested in how useful these cars are given their purpose: luxurious accommodation for the rear seat passengers.

Speaking of “out of scope” comparison, I would love to see one of these publication to do a comparison among 2-seater mid-engine sports cars for which one can pack the most groceries or which one is more versatile when going to the Home Depot for your weekend home improvement project. Now that will be very interesting but useless comparison, wouldn’t you think?

Misleading title: "Chauffeur"? I would DRIVE an S, A8, 7, LS, BUT to BE DRIVEN IN, I am going to say the extended length version of the Lincoln Town Car.
1. People will know I am important.
2. Very reliable. Many places to get it serviced quickly.
3. Strong engine that will last a very long time.
4. Very comfortable, and a large, open airy interior.
5. Good, solid ride. I'm not driving it, so why would I care about the handling?
6. Gigantic trunk. I think it's one of the largest ever.
7. Fairly good legroom, and an easy to take care of interior.
8. It's cheaper in the long run.

Oh, by extended length, I don't mean limo. I mean the "L", built on a slightly streched platform.
While browsing the Lincoln website, it shows that the Signature L includes the rear seat amenities pack; which includes heated rear seats, a larger rear armrest, rear vanity mirors, audio and climate control for the rear seats, and strangely, the right rear outboard passenger also has "secondary controls for the front passenger seat". Meaning the passenger in the back and adjust the passenger seat cushion forward and back, and even change the recline of that seat. I don't see BMW, Lexus, Audi, Jag or MB doing this.
Afterall though, the Lincoln is FAR from a drivers car. It's V8 only has 239 hp. A V8. Oh well. It does manage to get 18 city/25 hwy with a 4 speed. Who knows.

Absolutely right. Buy a limo and have someone drive for you not drive it yourself. You want to drive yourself, buy the regular lenght version not the L.

I can't find this anywhere on the lexus site. Do you have a link?

You have a good point for an American chauffeur driven car.

WTF ??

My Friend Drives a S500 2005 model and the Left Rear Passenger Has Control Over the Front Passenger Seat (As long as there is Nobody Occupying the Front Passenger Seat at the time)

Really? I've been in S500s, but never seen it. Why would the left rear have contol of the right front? That's just strange.

Ok, I get your point.

Again a very doubtable test from C&D!!!!!!!
I'm just thinking to don't consider C&D tests anymore. And this because what they explain sometimes, the reason why a car is first or other in third, sound ridiculous and when you test the cars yourself you ask yourself why the hell are they telling such unreal an sexagereted things about some cars. Go and drive the MB and AUDI A8. And you'll see that A8 is much better car for everyday life. And so on...
The BMW is much more pleasant to be in than MB also. The LEXUS L nad MB SL are very close together in term of feeling inside. And for god sake, just remove the JAG from this bunch. It's a tone under LEXUS, MB, AUDI and BMW in this range.

CarAndDriver always makes Lexus the lowest grade.

no CandD wants to mary Toyota/Lexus

But they love Honda more

last i checked the mags name was car and driver, not car and passenger.so based on that, its clear that they're going to focus more on the driver and handling habits of a car more than anything.

I can maybe understand the Mercedes in the top two, but the Lexus. Save thousands, go buy a Cadillac or Lincoln.

now you're contradicting yourself.

you already rated the LS two steps ABOVE the audi.

lexi were also ABOVE CADILLAC from the start.

no lexus was EVER offered with a 4-cyl engine. and even their V6s were always state-of-the-art in design, and superior to all others in reliability.

The LS460L and S550 are easily the best chauffer cars of the bunch- they have new seat technologies and giddiness-inducing features.

However, the A8L has a close second (the two above tie), and the 7er is in a distant third, with the XJ8L trailing behind.

If it were my car, I'd most closely look at the A8L and S-Class. LS is nice, but not my style.

Late 1960s-1981 Mercedes 600. Still untouched by cars like the Maybach or RR Phantom in terms of class and elegance.

but not fancy creature comforts.

there HAS been more than 20 years' advancement since.

Dangerous braking by the Lexus. Good job for the Audi, with the new engien it would have probably won.

I wouldn't go THAT far. Its slightly higher price would cost it a point, but it would get an extra point for powertrain- I'd say it would be exactly where it was before; one point behind the S-Class. The S-Class is the class-leader once again, and there's no denying that.

Just a thought: If you were driven by a chauffeur, would you want him to drive like hell or nice and smooth so your reading glasses dont fall off and your drink doesn't get spilled. C & D tests are always performance oriented.

I will say the Mercedes S550 is the best car to be chauffeured about if you're a very busy business person that must have your hands free to perform.

Another thing that the rest of these cars do not have that wealthy people that are chauffered around will want that is an Audi exclusive, the Bang and Olufsen sound system. The A8L is catered to wealthy people, not the wanna be rich people. Bang and Olufsen is in there homes, so Audi brings it into there car.

If C&D had got its priorities right, it would have placed the LS at or near the top. After all, when you title a comparo "ultimate chauffeur showdown", you are focusing on luxury, not sporty character.

To understand how ridiculous this review really is, look at the concluding sentence of the Audi A8 review, which reads "Your chauffeur will love it". That single line just about sums up where C&D's priorities lie. Theyre more concerned if the lowly chauffeur in front will enjoy the driving dynamics than whether the person being driven has the utmost comfort.The more you read this article, the less it makes sense.

its not even an s550L they test, just the s550!
lexus or merc should have won, probs lexus.
lexus
merc
audi
bmw
jag
is how it should have gone.

huu75 they just wanted to remind you how much Lexus sucked

The last post was a scan this was the online post

as far as how much "power" and "handling dynamics" REALLY matter, for a car you'll just be chaffuerred in, recall that before the bmw takeover, Rollers were powered by the old pushrod GM V8.

bentleys still are!